Profits over pageantry: What the Bears’ move says about sports today

On June 5, the Chicago Bears announced their plans to relocate out of Chicago to nearby Hammond, Indiana. This comes after a long battle with Illinois state leadership on possible options to keep the Bears in Chicago.

The Bears are expected to move out of Soldier Field, their downtown home since 1971. Chicago has hosted the Bears since the inception of the franchise in 1920 and is one of the founders of the National Football League (NFL).

Soldier Field is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the only NFL stadium that is on the list. This proves the importance of the stadium but also causes problems for the Bears. The Bears do not own Soldier Field — the city of Chicago does, which creates revenue and tax problems for the Bears. That is one of the reasons franchise leadership wants out of the city staple.

Although nothing is truly finalized, the writing appears to be on the wall, and one thing is certain: The Bears moving out of Chicago and out of Illinois as a whole is exactly what is wrong with how sports are treated today.

If someone were to say 10 years ago that the Chicago Bears, the founding franchise of the NFL, would move out of Chicago, that person would be called insane. The same can be said about the athletics of the MLB leaving Oakland. No one would have thought these iconic teams would change in such a radical manner.

Many teams have moved and changed stadiums. Famous examples include the Giants and Jets leaving New York City to play their games in New Jersey. Additionally, the Cleveland Browns became the Baltimore Ravens in 1996. But few teams in the NFL have the history that the Bears have, and so few stadiums are as iconic as Soldier Field.

Indiana lawmakers have approved an offer for the stadium rights that includes $1 billion in taxpayer funding. The Bears will put up $2 billion along with that. The franchise will keep all revenue generated from the stadium; none will go to the people of Indiana. On top of this, the Bears will pay no property tax for the land the stadium sits on. Currently, they face a $210 million tax expense, which would be erased.

All of the reasons mentioned above are purely economical. None of them have to do with the fans and residents of Illinois or Indiana. Indiana taxpayers are paying for a part of the stadium without the state getting any revenue back. This is the problem with the current sports culture.

Why aren’t billionaire owners of these franchises paying for their own stadiums? Why aren’t these billion-dollar entities being taxed? Why are these franchises able to make these decisions with no regard for the well-being of their fanbase that made them so lucrative?

The Bears potentially moving to Indiana is the most recent and perhaps the most concerning example of tradition and fanbases being completely thrown out of the window for the pursuit of profit in sport.

That begs the question: What is the line? Is anything sacred? There is no telling what could happen next. I do not want to live in a world where the Green Bay Packers no longer play at Lambeau Field or the Boston Red Sox leave Fenway Park. Yet, at this moment, I cannot help but think that even those historic places could someday be abandoned for financial gain, turning the traditions we hold sacred into distant memories.

jollifvm@miamioh.edu